Hartley, Iowa — Citizens of Hartley have been starting petition drives calling for the ouster of Hartley Mayor, Clayton Pyle.

Pyle came under public scrutiny recently after he fired the town’s Police Chief, Mark Younie on January 3rd. On Tuesday, January 21st, the Hartley City Council upheld Younie’s dismissal.

Jason Kelley of Hartley has started petition drives to oust Pyle, claiming that the mayor was wrong to eject Younie. One petition drive, calling for the mayor to resign was started online at a site called change.org. Kelley also started a paper petition drive calling for the mayor’s removal. On Thursday, January 23rd, supporters of the petition drive were walking the streets of Hartley and picketing at City Hall, asking people to sign the petition.

However, Hartley resident and petition supporter Dolly Lohr says that they went to the O’Brien County Courthouse in Primghar and asked for some information about such a petition drive.

She says they don’t know how much the bond will be at this point. She was also told that should the legal petition drive get off the ground, they will have to go back and get those who signed the original petition to sign the legal petition.

We’ll have further details on this developing story as they become available here on KIWA and kiwaradio.com.